For three years, I was the head coach of one of our school's First Lego League (FLL ) robotics teams, the Cougar Bots. Coaching was an incredible time commitment. The first summer the team met once a week to build a relationship and develop basic skills in building and programming. The second summer the team had a week long initiation camp. My last year of coaching, we eliminated the summer meetings. The team met two days after school for an hour and half and three hours every Saturday during the competition season from September to December. My team was fortunate enough to qualify for the state tournament all three years, so the season lasted until mid-February.
Each year there was an overlying theme designed by the FIRST organization. The table missions and the research project each year centered around the focus theme. The students were responsible for solving the missions at the table and determining a solution to a problem they identified related to the theme. As a coach, my assistant and I had to teach the basics of building and programming as well as how to research, but we could not tell the students how or what to do to solve the daily problems they encountered. There was a foundation of teamwork and collaboration that had to be built in order for the students to meet success as a team.
1. Cougar Bots 2006-2007 Season FLL Regional Competition
2. Cougar Bots 2007-2008 Season
FLL Regional Competition
FLL State Competition
3. Cougar Bots 2008-2009 Season FLL Regional Competition FLL State Competition Attached are a few of the documents and communications created while coaching:
REFLECTION
Coaching was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. I probably learned as much if not more during the experience as my team. The experience of coaching was a bit different from my previous experience with teaching. The students were responsible for finding the solutions and I was simply there to guide their discoveries. Not only did I learn how much my team was capable of, but I took this experience with me back to the classroom. I began utilizing the discovery learning process more in my daily teachings and witnessed my students sore with success.
I realized that teaching is a bit like coaching, I just had to provide the right guidance and introductory content. The team's best practices did not always go as I had planned, but I learned that planning for practice led to better use of time and in the end greater success. The better the team communication, the more the team accomplished. I continuously researched and organized short teamwork activities to incorporate into weekly practices. Teamwork activities were especially helpful in breaking up a three hour Saturday morning practices. I learned how to teach teamwork and collaboration, and in turn have brought that practice into my own classroom.
Today, my students are truly benefiting from my coaching experience. I try to instill in them the desire to be lifelong learners with the strategies that allow critical thinking and problem solving individually, with a partner or in a group of their peers. Without this experience, I would not be the teacher of 21st century learning that I continue to strive to be today.
Each year there was an overlying theme designed by the FIRST organization. The table missions and the research project each year centered around the focus theme. The students were responsible for solving the missions at the table and determining a solution to a problem they identified related to the theme. As a coach, my assistant and I had to teach the basics of building and programming as well as how to research, but we could not tell the students how or what to do to solve the daily problems they encountered. There was a foundation of teamwork and collaboration that had to be built in order for the students to meet success as a team.
1. Cougar Bots 2006-2007 Season
FLL Regional Competition
2. Cougar Bots 2007-2008 Season
FLL Regional Competition
FLL State Competition
3. Cougar Bots 2008-2009 Season
FLL Regional Competition
FLL State Competition
Attached are a few of the documents and communications created while coaching:
REFLECTION
Coaching was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. I probably learned as much if not more during the experience as my team. The experience of coaching was a bit different from my previous experience with teaching. The students were responsible for finding the solutions and I was simply there to guide their discoveries. Not only did I learn how much my team was capable of, but I took this experience with me back to the classroom. I began utilizing the discovery learning process more in my daily teachings and witnessed my students sore with success.
I realized that teaching is a bit like coaching, I just had to provide the right guidance and introductory content. The team's best practices did not always go as I had planned, but I learned that planning for practice led to better use of time and in the end greater success. The better the team communication, the more the team accomplished. I continuously researched and organized short teamwork activities to incorporate into weekly practices. Teamwork activities were especially helpful in breaking up a three hour Saturday morning practices. I learned how to teach teamwork and collaboration, and in turn have brought that practice into my own classroom.
Today, my students are truly benefiting from my coaching experience. I try to instill in them the desire to be lifelong learners with the strategies that allow critical thinking and problem solving individually, with a partner or in a group of their peers. Without this experience, I would not be the teacher of 21st century learning that I continue to strive to be today.